Closure attachment



May 24, 1955 J. M. BAKER ETAL 2,708,802

CLOSURE ATTACHMENT Filed Oct. 13, 1951 GASOLINE TANK CAP SECTION C-CFlG.6

INVENTORS: -JOHN M. BAKER ARTHUR dwEBgR 5148M a M AYTQRNEY United StatesPatentO CLOSURE ATTACHMENT 7 John M. Baker, Maine Township, Cook County,and

Arthur J. Weber, Chicago, Ill.

,This invention relates to an attachment for container closures. Moreparticularly, it relates to a clip-on cover for port caps for vessels.In a specific embodiment, it comprises a transparent dome-shaped coverfor a fuel tank cap and in combination therewith gripping or clamp ingmeans for attaching said cover to said cap and retaining means whereby acard, disc,.or other labelling element can be positioned and maintainedbetween said cap and said cover.

One object of our invention is to provide a useful and ornamental coverfor container closures. Another object is to provide a readily andconveniently attachable and removable cover for tank caps. A furtherobject is to provide means whereby a card, disc, tag, label, sticker,decalcomania, seal, stub, check, or the like can be placed andmaintained upon a closure means in such a position as to. beconveniently accessible for examination, while being protected againstdamage from the elements and from mechanical contact during normalmanipulation of saidclosure. A still further object is to provide meanswhereby information relevant to a container or to apparatus associatedtherewith is made available at a charging port, inspection port, oroutlet of said container. Other objects of our invention and itsadvantages over the prior art will be apparent from the followingdescription and claims.

r A number of embodiments of-our invention are illustrated in theattached pairs of drawings. The second figure of each pair is in part across-sectional view at the indicated section.

Figures -1 and 2 depict our new device enclosing a display'card andattached to a gasoline tank cap.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a transparent, rimmed cover plate, held inplace by a detachable flange equipped with gripping tabs of our newtype.

Figures 5 and, 6 illustrate an embodiment of our invention having acard-positioning key means and a central'opening for access to a lock orkeyhole.

Our invention broadly comprises a transparent cover plate for acontainer closure, including shoulder means for centrally positioningand retaining a card or other labelling means, and gripping meanswhereby the cover plate is attachable to the container closure. Our newdevice is susceptible to various modifications, as will be more fullyapparent from the description hereinafter.

Our invention is useful for various purposes. Its principal and mostadvantageous use is as a means for attaching reminder cards, wherebyinformation relevant to the associated equipment is continuouslyavailable and is brought to the attention of the operator thereof eachtime the container closure is examined or opened. Thus, our device canbe utilized to attach a card to a gasoline-tank cap, giving the date andmileage of the last oil change; this information is thereby madeautomatically available to the service station attendant each timegasoline is added to the tank, and can be used by him as a basis forreminding the customer when additional servicing is needed. Theprior-art device, it will 2,708,802 Patented May 24, 1955 be noted, wasa sticker afiixed inside the automobile door, and was therefore seldomaccessible to the attendant. Another application of our invention is toradiator caps, with a reminder of the date and extent of antifreezeaddition- This matter, especially important when non-permanentantifreezes are used, is thereby brought to the attention of the servicestation attendant each time the cooling system is checked.

Our invention will be more fully understood by reference to the attacheddrawings.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a combination of our closure cover with agasoline tank cap and an imprinted card of matching shape anddimensions. The said combination has been given the trade name Oilminderby us, since the card is conveniently filled out with the mileage anddate of the last oil change of the vehicle to which it is attached.Figure 2 is in part a cross-sectional view at section A-A indicated inFigure 1. 7

Over a conventional gasoline tank cap 101 (Figures 1 and 2) having acentral dome-shaped portion 102 is positioned a card 103 having theshape of a circularspherical segment of suitable radius. Over the cardis positioned a transparent plastic cover plate 104 having a dome-shapedstructure corresponding to the shape of the gasoline cap dome 102. Inthe concave side of the cover plate 10 is a circular shoulder 105,adaptedto center and retain card 103 within said cover plate. To the rimof cover plate 104 are attached three laterally and perpendicularlyextensible gripper tabs or springmetal clips 106, each of said tabs orclips comprising essentially an arcuate segment 107 convex in the samedirection as the cover plate 104 and a relatively straight segment 108dependent therefrom, terminating in a hooking means 10?, whereby thecover plate is clamped and maintained in position upon cap 101.

In a typical embodiment of the invention, adapted for use upon aconventional dome-shaped gasoline cap having a major axis of 3 inches, aminor axis of 2%; inches, a dome diameter of 2 inches, a dome depth of/2 inch, and a body thickness of inch, the card employed has a diameterof 1 7 4; inches, the cover plate has a diameter of 1 inches, a shoulderdiameter of 1 inches, a dome depth of inch, a tab plan projection of /2inch, a tab profile projection of inch, and a tab arcuate segmentprofile projection of inch.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.The drawings show a transparent convexo-concave cover plate of plasticor glass, having a dome-shaped central portion 301, a rim portion 302, ashoulder 303 therebetween on the concave side of the cover plate, and aretaining flange or ring 304 provided with laterally and perpendicularlyextensible gripper tabs 305 (three illustrated), which may beconstructed like the gripper tabs 106 shown in Figures 1 and 2, or anequivalent thereof. The retaining ring and gripper tabs are preferablymade of semiflexible metal, but may also be made of plastic in whole orin part. For example, the retaining ring 304 may suitably be made ofplastic With metallic gripper tabs 305 molded therein.

Still another embodiment of the invention (Figures 5 and 6) comprises atransparent plastic cover plate 501 having a dome-shaped central portion502, a circular shoulder 503 in the concave side thereof, a rim portion504, and laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripper tabs 505attached to said rim portion. Four of the said tabs are illustrated, butit is to be understood that we can use two, three, or more. Centrallylocated in said cover plate is an opening 506, and in the concavesurface of said cover plate is a key means 507, illustrated as acylindrical member molded in and protruding from the concave surfacethereof. Within the concave surface of the cover plate and retained byshoulder 503 is a paper disc 508 having openings positioned tocorrespond with opening 506 and key means 507 in the cover plate. Theopenings in the cover plate and associated card permit the entireattachment to be used with fuel-tank caps and the like having acentrally located lock or keyhole. Key means 5-97 insures that card 598will be maintained within the cover plate in a predetermined position.

The novel closure attachment of our invention is preferably made of atransparent plastic such as methyl methacrylate, cellulose acetate,cellulose acetate butyrate, ethyl cellulose, polyvinyl butyral,polyvinyl chloride acetate, polystyrene, Celluloid, and the like, andcombinations and modifications thereof. The material employed should beinert to or not greatly affected by any substances to which it may beexposed during use. Glass can also be used, especially in the embodimentillustrated by Figures 3 and 4; but owing to its fragility, glass is notordinarily the material of choice. The gripper tabs may also be made ofplastic, preferably molded integrally with the cover plate itself.Alternatively, the tabs may be of flexible or semiflexible metal, moldedinto and supported by the cover plate, or formed integrally with orattached to a retaining ring as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. Two,three, or four or more gripper tabs may be used, but we ordinarilychoose to use three, spaced approximately 120 degrees apart.

Cards and the like for display under the cover plate may be ofsubstantially any peripheral shape, the concave side of the cover platebeing preferably formed to correspond. Ordinarily we choose to use acircular card formed into a convexo-concave surface to correspondapproximately to the inner surface of the cover plate. it will beapparent, however, that we may also use a card having a planar surface,or a card of planar surface having a pie-shaped segment cut therefrom,so that the card can be folded into a shallow cone and allowed to openwithin the dome-shaped portion of the cover plate, where the edges arecaught and held by the retaining shoulders. In an especially convenientembodiment, a circular or modified circular card having a centralopening out therein is slit along one radius; the resulting adjacentedges overlap slightly when the card is folded into a shallow cone forinsertion in the cover plate, as set forth above. Other modificationswill be apparent to those skilled in the art. As key means within theconcave side of the cover plate we may obviously attach any speciallyshaped object, the cards being cut out in conformity therewith so thatthe desired position of the card will be assured.

An especially advantageous feature of our invention is the gripping orclamping means used as an integral part thereof, whereby the transparentcover plate is attached to and maintained in contact with the tank capor other closure. Our gripping and clamping means, being substantiallyextensible both laterally and perpendicularly, permits use of our coverplate with closures of substantially different diameters andthicknesses.

While we have described our invention in connection with certainspecific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that we are notlimited thereto. In general 4 it can be said that any modifications orequivalents that would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art are tobe considered as lying within the scope of our invention.

In accordance with the foregoing description, we claim as our invention:

1. An attachment for a container closure which comprises a transparentcover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, ashoulder between said rim and said dome-shaped central portion on theconcave side thereof, and laterally and perpendicularly extensiblegripping means extending from said rim portion, whereby said cover plateis attachable to said eontainer closure, each of said gripping meanscomprising a tab attached to said rim portion, said tab having anareuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shaped centralportion and a relatively straight .ment dependent therefrom terminatingin a hooking means.

2. The device of claim 1, containing within the concave side of saiddome-shaped central portion of said cover plate a projecting key elementadapted to maintain a display card within said cover plate in apredetermined position.

3. An attachment for a container closure which comprises a transparentcover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, ashoulder between said rim and said dome-shaped central portion on theconcave side thereof, a flange positioned over said rim on the convexside of said cover plate, and laterally and perpendicularly extensiblegripping means extending from said flange, whereby in combination saidcover plate is attachable to said container closure, each of saidgripping means comprising a tab attached to said flange, said tab havingan arcuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shapedcentral portion and a relatively straight segment dependent therefromterminating in a hooking means.

4. An attachment for a gasoline-tank cap which comprises a transparentcover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, ashoulder between said rim portion and said dome-shaped central portionon the concave side thereof, and laterally and perpendicularlyextensible gripping tabs extending from said rim portion, whereby saidcover plate is attachable to said cap, each of said gripping tabs havingan arcuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shapedcentral portion and a relatively straight segment dependent therefromterminating in a hook.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said dome-shaped central portion has acentral opening adapted to serve as a vent for said gasoline tank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS784,969 Wikoff Mar. 14, 1905 1,586,180 Crosby May 25, 1926 2,046,745Hoag July 7, 1936 2,169,268 lAnson Feb. 22, 1938 2,527,900 Warmath Oct.31, 1950

